CVE-2025-20017
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedUncontrolled search path for some Intel(R) oneAPI Toolkit and component software installers may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceIntel oneAPI Toolkit installers use an uncontrolled search path when loading DLLs or executables, allowing a local authenticated attacker to place malicious files in a directory from which the installer loads code, resulting in privilege escalation when the installer executes with elevated privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Intel oneAPI Toolkit installationCheck for the presence of Intel oneAPI Toolkit by looking in typical installation directories such as C:\Program Files\Intel\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\, or review installed programs in Windows Control Panel Programs and Features.Affected if Intel oneAPI Toolkit is found on the system
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Identify installed versionLocate the version information in the installation directory or via the Windows registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intel\oneAPI or similar registry keys. Compare the installed version number against the affected version ranges provided by Intel security advisories.Affected if The installed version falls within the affected version range and has not been patched
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Review installer execution locationIdentify directories from which Intel oneAPI Toolkit installers are typically run or have been run previously. Check directory permissions to determine if standard users have write access to those locations.Affected if Installers are run from or can be placed in user-writable directories such as Downloads, user home folders, or shared network locations with write permissions for non-privileged users
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Inspect DLL search path configurationExamine system and application DLL search path settings including the PATH environment variable, system-wide DLL search order, and any application-specific path configurations for the Intel oneAPI installer components.Affected if The DLL search path includes user-writable directories before protected system directories, allowing potential DLL hijacking
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Audit recent installer activityReview Windows Event Logs (Application and System logs) for instances where Intel oneAPI installers were executed with elevated privileges, noting the source directory of the installer.Affected if Intel oneAPI installers were executed with elevated privileges from directories accessible to non-privileged users
The environment is affected if Intel oneAPI Toolkit is installed with a vulnerable version and installers are executed or can be placed in user-writable directories where a local attacker could inject malicious DLLs or executables.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply vendor-supplied patches when available; until then, run installers from directories with restricted write access and avoid placing installers in user-writable locations.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20017 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-20017 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data